Making poverty reduction inclusive

During his speech at the opening of the annual sessions of China's top legislature, Premier Li Keqiang said the government would lift 10 million people out of poverty this year alone. This is a tremendous task, yet one I am confident that China can succeed in.

Back in 1996, China's Human Development Index scored 0.56. However, by 2015, the number went up to 0.74, with China marching into the high human development group. The world has been amazed by China's success, and many have begged the question: What are the "secret" ingredients of China's achievement? I would like to emphasize three key words to shed some light: adaptation, innovation and leadership.

Adaptation: As social-economic and environmental contexts change, China has managed to evolve accordingly. China has been able to devise attainable development objectives during each phase and implement targeted policies. Poverty reduction provides a good example. As China advances, the nature of fighting against poverty is rapidly changing - efforts have been broad-based to address multidimensional causes of poverty and leverage comparative advantages, while being more concentrated on the poor.